THE Communications and Digital Ministry is probing an alleged data hacking incident involving five million AirAsia passengers and staff, its minister Fahmi Fadzil said today.

In a statement, Fahmi said an investigation team from the ministry, Department of Personal Data Protection and CyberSecurity Malaysia has held discussion with Capital A, the parent company of AirAsia on December 1.

“Preliminary investigations found that a cyberattack on AirAsia’s server system had occurred on November 12, which resulted from unauthorised access, resulting in a ransomware attack, potentially causing data leakage,” said Fahmi.

“Following the discussion, Capital A was instructed to submit supporting documents along with relevant computerised data evidence on the case.

“Further investigations are underway to identify the cause of the hacking and the overall impact of the incident.”

According to the ministry, the group responsible for the hacking is known as Daixin.

Fahmi said the details of the case cannot be disclosed to the public for the time being.

“The details are not to be disclosed at the moment as they could disrupt the investigation,” he added. – December 10, 2022.